Vanity (scaffolding)

400 x 500 x 500 cm, drawing, painting and engraving on wooden planks leaning against scaffolding, potted forest plants, breeze blocks, soundtrack and photographic slideshow, 2025
co-production contrat de filière arts plastiques et visuels, Astres et région Nouvelle-Aquitaine / association Merveilleux Pretexte / CIAP Vassivière / communauté de communes Dômes-Sancy-Artense

The installation creates a face-to-face or, more accurately, a back-to-back, encounter a natural landscape and traces of urbanity (scaffolding, breeze blocks). Plants representative of types from central France are inserted into the ensemble; they support the scaffolding on which the pictorial representation of a contemporary forest is placed.
On the sections of a half-fir and a half-beech, their missing living parts are engraved-drawn, created from sketches made in woods. The idea is to concretely question the material and the place of the living in light of the images we produce of it.
The installation is accompanied by an audio track that captures a variety of perceptions, memories and knowledge of forests. A slideshow of photographs is integrated into the installation, documenting the visual researches of the artists’ collective ‘Vers le milieu de la forêt’ exhibited in woods.